Natasha's Choice
by sv4me
Summary: After Winter Soldier #14, AoU, etc, Natasha eventually remembers Bucky, but she's developed feelings for Clint in the meantime. It all comes to a head. She has to choose. One-shot. Rated "T" for language. Please R&R.


"**Natasha's Choice"**

Rated "T" for language.

I wrote this after reading Winter Soldier #14. For whatever reason (my bet is the memory deletion thing of Secrete Avengers messes with her brain) Natasha eventually remembers Bucky, and their love (& my bet is Bucky also gets into some kind of romance in the meantime). But she's developed feelings for Clint in the meantime, and he for her. It all comes to a head. She has to choose.

Note: this is kind of styled after a chose your own adventure thing. You'll see.

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters or titles or movie stuff. Fraction, DeConnick, Spencer, etc, if you guys want this for the comics you write, it's all yours (& Marvel's too, I guess), for free. PLEASE, take it. I need to see me some REAL Clintasha in the comics, not Clintasha only because she can't remember Bucky (but a lot of that in the meantime is ok) ;)**

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sometime in the future

The rest of the team is laughing nearby, enjoying the night. That… woman that Bucky had been seeing has already left.

She looks down, and asks Bucky the question that's been bothering her. "Do you think it's possible to love two people at the same time?"

"I love YOU, Natasha. Always have, always will."

She sighs. He thinks she was asking about him and (insert name of future love interest).

She rises and gives his a face smile, and touches his shoulder. Her face falls after she turns her back to him, and she walks to rejoin the group.

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sometime a little further in the future

She adjusts the sights on her spotting scope. Clint is still bored and fidgeting with his arrows, and STILL talking about why Broken Lizard is funnier than Monty Python.

"… and they didn't need animated dick and fart jokes to get laughs."

Natasha smiles at that one. Even though he had her on that point, this was an argument he would NEVER win against her. Her face sobered. "Clint, do you think it's possible to love two people at the same time?"

"Besides, Heffernan is sooo the… wait, what?"

Maybe this was a bad idea. "Never mind, Barton." She pauses and attempts to redirect him. "Besides, everything Broken Lizard did after Super Troopers was a flop anyway…"

Clint rubs the back of his neck with his hand like he always does when he's nervous. "Well, anything's possible Nat. But I think a … person, has to figure things out for themselves, and…" he takes a steadying breath, knowing full well he may be sealing his own fate. "… and really work at a, relationship, and not give up, in order for it to work."

She looks at him and raises an eyebrow. "Not give up?"

He sighs. "Yeah. I've been, thinking," (and by thinking he meant being berated by Kate Bishop, of course), "about my past, well, relationship failures. I realized I always gave up too quickly. I guess it was just easier than really trying and wading through the hard stuff."

He looks down at the few arrows in his hands. "But, well…" he pauses, not sure how to continue. "You gotta admit that Beer Fest was pretty awesome. Das Boot, mein friend!"

She chuckles, but then stiffens. "Put your game face on, Rabbit. We've got movement."

"Hawks eat rabbits you know…" Clint muttered.

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More time passes… likely sometime near the release of the movie 'Captain America: Winter Soldier', I suspect… ;) _Bucky/Natasha/Clint love triangle has been going on. Natasha was stabbed & captured by (insert hostile here) while she, Bucky and Clint were attempting to infiltrate said bad guys. The (insert team here: Avengers or SHIELD for Secrete Avengers, etc) have gathered nearby where they believe Natasha is being held, and tortured for information. Bucky wants to rush in to save her. Clint says they should not rush in immediately. If you haven't guessed already I didn't feel like writing all that background OR deciding if this would be an Avengers or Secrete Avengers story. If you prefer Avengers insert names like Steve, Logan, and Bruce below. For Secrete Avengers you could use Hill, Fury, & Coulson. Although I did manage to briefly write in Kate Bishop, regardless of team choice._

Clint raises his voice. "Let the woman do her job, Barnes! She's not a damsel in distress!"

Bucky spins around and points a finger at Clint. "You obviously don't care about her as much as you say you do or you'd be going insane and doing everything in your power to save her!"

Clint frowns. "You're wrong." He sits, putting his head in his hands. "I love her." (insert team member here – Bruce: chokes on his coffee. Coulson: raises an eyebrow.)

"I won't lie and say I haven't been tempted to rush in and save her before, or that I didn't do it in the past." He looks Bucky in the eyes. "But now I trust her first. I trust her skills. I trust her instincts." He looks back down. "Some things she just needs to do herself Barnes, and I have to let her. That's what partners do."

"And how do you know she's not in there right now waiting for you to free her?"

Clint sighs. "We had a… disagreement."

Barnes didn't look convinced. "So, you had some kind of lover's quarrel and now you want to leave her to her torture?!"

Clint shot to his feet, glaring. "It's her plan, you moron. To get in this way, appear vulnerable, and get to the head of the organization."

"and we're not lovers…" he adds quietly as he looks away.

"Why didn't I hear of this plan!?"

Clint murmurs again. "She asked me not to tell you."

"WHAT?!"

"Don't you get it, Barnes? She doesn't TRUST you to do your part and let her do hers. She doesn't trust you to stay put and not rush in and screw things up!"

"Damn right! I'm not going them to do god-knows-what to her just to do this gig!"

"She's good at her job, Bucky! Better than me, and maybe even better than you! We've got to let her work! If she wasn't confident she could handle them she wouldn't have allowed them to take her."

"You're such a COWARD, Barton! How could you let her do that?!"

Things were really getting heated now, and they were right up in each other's faces.

"Because I TRUST her, Barnes!"

"As he should." Natasha strides in, a little bruised and bloodied, but no serious injuries, and confident.

"NATASHA!" Her appearance caught both of them by surprise.

"Target neutralized, (insert team leader here – Captain or Hill)." She threw several blood packs on the ground, and they landed with a _splat._ "Debrief tomorrow?" (team leader nods).

Clint blows out a breath, relieved, while Bucky rushes to her. Bucky grabs her in a hug, and Clint looks down. "So, I'll um, just…" and he walks out. Natasha watches him go as Barns continues to holds her and rambles somewhat, "…thank god you're ok Nat, there was so much blood…"

She pushes him off of her. "James, enough." He looks back, shocked. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe I _wanted_ it to look that way? Did you ever consider the possibility that I could handle the situation _myself_?"

He looks down. She continues, her voice lowered. "Can you remember the last time you… trusted me, to be able to handle something on my own?"

She turns. "I've grown James. I'm not a scared little girl being bullied by the Red Room anymore. I'm an Avenger."

"Okay, but don't the Avengers take care of their own? Aren't you concerned that _none_ of them were there for you, or even tried to help you, when you were shot, taken, and … _tourtured?!_"

Her jaw sets. The anger is starting getting through now.

"Go. Just go."

"But, Natasha…" he touches her shoulder, his voice calming now. "I just got you back…"

She looks up. "And I you. But, that doesn't mean that we can just pick up where we left off. Or that we should at all."

"You're choosing _him_." He turns his back, scowling. "The _pretty boy_ with the arrows."

(insert team member here – Logan: growls, Fury: crosses his arms with a glare on his face). (insert another team member here – Steve: raises an eyebrow, Coulson: clears his throat). Kate looks a bit homicidal.

Natasha starts walking towards the same door Clint left through.

"No James. I'm choosing ME."

….

Natasha finds him on the roof of his apartment building.

"Tasha? What are you doing here? Have you been checked for injuries?"

"Not yet, but I'll be fine. It didn't hit any organs, and it's healing already."

"Let me see." He checks her over, like they've done so many times before.

"Gotta say, the Red Room did good work with that serum of yours. Not quite like Logan's, but still very effective. Now, if we could just get you the stuff from Canada," he smirks, "no one would ever have to worry about you…"

"He's gone, Barton," she interrupts.

"But I thought… you…"

"You were right. Trust comes first, and I trust you. With my life."

He gives her a sideways smile, and takes her into a gentle hug. He rests his forehead against hers, then moves slowly to kiss her.

She pulls away.

He whispers, "…but not your heart?"

"I… I just need a little time Clint. I need to clear my head. Get away for a while."

"Where are you going?"

"…" She looks down.

He puts his hand on her shoulder. "It's ok Tasha. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Just be safe, ok? And let me know if you need me."

"You're too good to me Clint."

"After all these years of bad jokes and attitude you've manage to stay my friend. No, you're too good to me, Natasha."

They stare into each other's eyes for a moment. She turns to leave. "Goodbye Clint. Tell Cap I won't be gone too long."

"Nat, wait!" He runs back to her before she gets to the door.

"Take this." He pulls off a simple necklace. "Stark made it when I wouldn't move into the tower. A sort of 'Life Alert' device. You get into trouble…"

She smiles and takes it. The 'charm' was an arrow. "Ok. Thanks partner."

And with that she's gone.

...

Clint is still on the roof looking out over the sunset when Kate finally finds him.

"I've been looking for you EVERYWHERE! You're three hours late! We've got stuff to do and bad guys to do it **to,** Clint! Come on!"

Clint stands and stretches a bit.

"Ah, Kate. Patience is a skill I have yet to teach you."

She raises an eyebrow. "Patience is something **you're** going to teach me?"

He sighs, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. They head towards the stairs. "Well,** I'm** going to be forced to learn it starting right now, so you might as well join me…"

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The end. It's only a one-shot. Although I'm planning on going back and writing about what it was like falling for Clint and not remembering Bucky, then remembering, then Bucky coming back and all the drama, etc., etc., etc. That's going to be a long, and involved story, likely a series, so you're going to have to wait for it.

**Let me know what you think. Marvel, it's all yours if you want it. Thank you to my beta bouncingcrow! **

**NOTE: this is based off of my interpretation, which may be wrong, after reading 'Widow Hunt' & other recent Avengers titles. It seemed to me like while Bucky loves Natasha, Clint & Natasha's relationship (which is only in 'friendship' phase currently) is based on trust. I just don't see Natasha as the damsel in distress type, needing a man to save her, which is what 'widow hunt' felt like to me. That's why I like Clint and Natasha together, first as friends and partners, then evolving to more once again. They trust each other. Moreover, Clint trusts Natasha's skills & instincts. Plus, I don't think she's ever explained to him WHY she just left him all those years ago… (see tales of suspense). While Bucky understands Natasha because of their Red Room connection, I think Clint could go deeper, to the PERSON that Natasha is, not just a broken product of the Red Room. Also, I'd like to see an author like DeConnick develop Natasha further. It seemed like all Natasha did in Winter Soldier was some cool flips and be Bucky's lover. It seems like she's always been a secondary character to whatever man she's with (see her time with Daredevil). She's much more than that. Her and Clint could be much more than that. A TEAM, each with their own skills that balance each other out, no one more important than the other. **


End file.
